Species Composition and Distribution Pattern of Stingrays in the Coastal Waters of Terengganu, Malaysia, the South China Sea
Nur Arina Hayati Binti Mohidin, Sukree Hajisamae, Maizah M. Abdullah, Mazlan Hashim, Ahasan Habib, Rashedul Islam and Hisam Fazrul* Author for corresponding; e-mail address: md.fazrul@umt.edu.my
Volume: Vol.48 No.4 (July 2021)
Research Article
DOI:
Received: 21 May 2020, Revised: 6 Febuary 2021, Accepted: 15 Febuary 2021, Published: -
Citation: Mohidin N.A.H.B., Hajisamae S., Abdullah M.M., Hashim M., Habib A., Islam R., et al., Species Composition and Distribution Pattern of Stingrays in the Coastal Waters of Terengganu, Malaysia, the South China Sea, Chiang Mai Journal of Science, 2021; 48(4): 1009-1020.
Abstract
Stingrays are part of commercial fisheries worldwide; Malaysia is ranked as the eighth-largest stingray fishery in the world. Samples were collected monthly from January 2018 to December 2018 with supplementary samplings on February 2019 and October 2019 by using stingray gill nets in Coastal South China seawaters of Terengganu. The present study aimed to determine the abundance and distribution of stingrays based on species and sizes at different habitat and seasons in the Terengganu, Malaysia coastal waters. A total of 10 stingray species were collected from 122 samples. Stingray species are distributed differently according to habitat and seasonal. The result of a two-way ANOVA showed that habitat significantly (P< 0.005) and season highly significant affects the abundance of stingrays (P < 0.001). Most catches were in 20 m depth during the dry season. The result of a non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination indicates that the grouping overlapped in habitat and season with similar species collected.